Everyday Problem Solving in Engineering: Lessons for Engineering Educators

Practicing engineers are hired, retained, and rewarded for solving problems, so engineering students should learn how to solve workplace problems. Workplace engineering problems are substantively different from the kinds of problems that engineering students most often solve in the classroom; therefore, learning to solve classroom problems does not necessarily prepare engineering students to solve workplace problems. These qualitative studies of workplace engineering problems identify the attributes of workplace problems. Workplace problems are ill-structured and complex because they possess conflicting goals, multiple solution methods, non-engineering success standards, non-engineering constraints, unanticipated problems, distributed knowledge, collaborative activity systems, the importance of experience, and multiple forms of problem representation. Some implications for designing engineering curricula and experiences that better prepare students for solving workplace problems are considered.